Public health expert calls on Minister to act on food labelling

Updated
February 17, 2014 19:04:00

Professor Mike Daube, one of Australia's leading authorities on public health, has called on the Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash to demonstrate that she's not a captive of the food and tobacco industry.

MARK COLVIN: The Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash lost her chief of staff last week amidst conflict of interest allegations but she's still under fire.

One of Australia's leading authorities on public health today called on Senator Nash to demonstrate that she's not a captive of the food and tobacco industry.

Last week the Minister's chief of staff Alastair Furnival quit following revelations of his involvement in a company lobbying for big food conglomerates like Mondelez, the company formerly known as Kraft.

Mike Daube is Professor of Health Policy at Curtin University in Perth. He's one of the leading lights in the global effort to curb tobacco use, and equally vocal on the influence of big food companies in public policy.

Professor Mike Daube spoke to Peter Lloyd.

MIKE DAUBE: Look I think the major issue now is not about one staffer who is gone but about whether the Federal Minister responsible for prevention understands the importance of prevention and will take the action that's needed.

You look at the three big prevention priorities - tobacco, alcohol, obesity - and they're also the three big priorities or three of the biggest priorities if we want to close the Indigenous life expectancy gap, and this Minister so far does not have a good record.

She's scuppered a food labelling system, she's defunded the major peak national alcohol treatment organisation and her party still accepts tobacco funding. So I think it raises much bigger question marks about Senator Nash than it does about the Mr Furnival.

PETER LLOYD: Well Labor last week said that Senator Nash has misled the Parliament on two occasions. Should she stay in the job?

MIKE DAUBE: I won't get into the political issues, that's for the politicians to do. What I will say is that it is now up to Senator Nash to show that she understands the importance of prevention and that she isn't singing from industry songbooks.

PETER LLOYD: Well that would include restoring the food labelling scheme I presume?

MIKE DAUBE: Well I think she needs to look very carefully at restoring the food labelling scheme. That was agreed by a national council of food ministers. It was worked up by the Federal Health Department and she unilaterally had it taken down at a moment's notice.

She should absolutely refund the alcohol and drugs council of Australia. That had been going for about 50 years, it was chaired by a former Liberal member or parliament Dr Mal Washer, just ridiculous to defund that.

And I think we need to see very strong action from her on tobacco. The Liberal Party refuses tobacco funding and to support its (inaudible). But I just find it inconceivable that a minister responsible for prevention should come from a party that still takes tobacco industry funding.

PETER LLOYD: Why is the food labelling system that she brought off the website, why is it so important?

MIKE DAUBE: This was going to be the first significant step forward that we'd seen on food labelling in decades, all the health authorities and experts actually wanted something called the traffic lights labelling system. There were then years of negotiation and eventually even with the food industry there was agreement on the star rating system. Then the food industry backed off and the Minister's had it taken down.

So all we're left with is the really pathetic food industry's own approach to information on what's in food, not what had been agreed and researched by health groups and governments. So she really has scuppered something that had been years in the making and it's very clear that we won't have now decent food labelling for years to come.

PETER LLOYD: Has she scuppered it or has she merely delayed it? The Minister's argument is that there's further investigation that needs to happen.

MIKE DAUBE: Oh, look I think that's code for scuppered. It's been taken down and incredibly quickly the food ministers council had agreed that it should happen. She's talking for full cost benefit analysis. Those kinds of things take years.

PETER LLOYD: Is that what you would say is code for being captured by the industry?

MIKE DAUBE: Certainly code for following the line that the food industry, the junk food industry wants.